AVC Offers Large Animal Emergency Rescue Course

The Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) will offer a large animal emergency rescue course, July 5-7, in Charlottetown, PEI.

Dr. Erica Koch, a veterinarian with the Ambulatory Equine Service at AVC is the driving force behind bringing the Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue (TLAER™) course to AVC, which will be instructed by Dr. Tomas Gimenez and Dr. Rebecca Gimenez. The pair has taught TLAER™ across the US, and in the UK, Australia and Colombia, but this is the first time that they will teach it in Canada.

“TLAER™ is not disaster medicine, and it is not only field medicine,” said Dr. Tomas Gimenez. “Participants learn practical techniques for safely rescuing live large animals from entrapment situations like trailer wrecks, ditches, mud pits, and barn fires.”

Scroll to continue with content

“Large animal veterinarians often have to deal with livestock and horses that go down because of injury, illness or accident,” said Koch. “As clinicians, they have to be prepared for all kinds of emergency situations, small and large.

“TLAER™ is a great course. You learn about preparing for situations of all kinds – from helping a horse that has fallen in its stall to dealing with animals caught in large-scale disasters like hurricanes or floods.”

The course is not just for large animal veterinarians and technicians. It is designed for emergency responders such as firefighters, police and rescue teams, as well as animal rescue organizations, and large animal owners and transporters. It also includes education about animal behavior, which is important for non-veterinary emergency responders.

The course instructors use animals that are specifically trained for the TLAER™ course to demonstrate rescue techniques used in a variety of emergency situations. While the course primarily covers livestock and horses, the techniques are applicable to emergency situations involving zoo and exotic animals, and commercial livestock, and animal cruelty investigations.

For more information, contact Dr. Erica Koch at 902-393-6104 or ekoch@upei.ca. Registration information is available at http://avc.upei.ca/